What Do You See? What Do You Hear?

I recently picked up the Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle book, "Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear?" at our local bookstore. My daughter Jannique really enjoys "Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See" and so I thought she would get a kick out of the new addition.

I was right.

These books are terrific for little ones because they are so predictable and feature lovely, gentle rhymes. Jannique is 2 1/2 and has an amazing memory. It doesn't take long for her to start reciting books back to me (once I have read them to her a dozen or so times). With the Bill Martin Jr. books, she is able to "peek" to the next page to remind herself what comes next. It's a delight to watch.

Then there's the artwork...

Eric Carle's colorful collages are so appealing for young and old alike. At KinderArt.com, we have a variety of lessons based on his style of decorating papers with color and texture and then tearing/cutting them up to create new and wonderful works of art. Here are two examples from the Animals, Animals lesson plan by Alice Cunningham found here: http://www.kinderart.com/across/carleanimals.shtml

And another from the Paper Collage lesson by Pamela Metzger found here: http://www.kinderart.com/across/carlecollage.shtml

You can find even more Eric Carle inspired lessons here: http://www.kinderart.com/across/index_lang.shtml

Share the joy of collage with your kids today!

Keep creating,

~Andrea